About DLC, I admit it is daunting to look at that stack of DLC or to look at how much I have spent per hour of return (so far). That said:

Their DLC model is quite generous. As long as you don’t want to play AS something, you get the DLC for free. New stuff just gets put into the game as enemies. That is pretty nice. There is a lot of entertainment to be had off of a single purchase and that just keeps growing. (Notable exception= TW:W1 for ME campaign)

The DLC release pacing and cost, is actually fairly trivial for the amount of entertainment return per dollar if someone is going to play the as new faction in a given DLC. If someone is not going to play as the new faction, then don’t buy it and see point #1 above. (Notable exception= faction roster expansion, but if you like a faction, just spend the $9 for more of that faction).

Rangers aren’t designed for holding the line, they are flanking anti-infantry units. You put them at the flanks of your armies and pull them in along the flanks and rear after the main infantry line has engaged. They are micromanagement intensive and kind of underwhelming in campaign. They seem good in skirmish-y MP builds, but that’s a whole different game almost.

Just go for the spear line, Silverin Guard are a nice upgrade to spearmen that are accessible early, or you can just go with a full front line of Sea Guard.

One of the most critical things with the High Elves is that more than any other faction they benefit from trade income. Every turn you need to make sure any faction that you can have a trade agreement with and you aren’t planning on attacking in the next 10 turns, you have. You can use Influence to make factions like you more, and it’s often worth spending a little gold if you have to and get those trade agreements going. They become real economic powerhouses.

Edited to add: also with the Silverin Guard, they have Charge Defense Against All and something like 1 Charge Bonus. You don’t want to charge them into anything that is charging them, let them brace for the hit. The only time you should give them attack orders is on enemies that aren’t coming at them.

I think I am going to restart, but this time get a second stack ASAP that is just the warden/ unit chaser in territory as I use my main stack to advance actual objectives. I think I will also dabble with @strategy 's advice and get some Sea Guard. My attempts to have a mix of Rangers and Spear units to hold the line for my archers was not working. My best battles were garrison troops that just held a line with Spearmen as archers shot away.

Don’t bother with the Sea Guard in the beginning, at least not for a good long while. Your last sentence here is the key - a line of spearmen supported by a bunch of archers are by far your most cost-efficient early-game HE army. Supported by the few hard-hitting units to outflank the enemy, they can pincushion and defeat most early game AI armies. You do want to get the Sea Guard eventually, but your first priority is to build up your money-making machine.

Sea Guard are more mid-to-late game units. Early on, IIRC, you can get 1 spearman + 1 archer for almost the same cost/maintenance as a Sea Guard, and you really, really want the additional number of units. Having 2-3 armies instead of 1, also means it is much, much easier to keep your empire safe, while continuing expansion. A full stack of spear and archers behind walls will only rarely get attacked (and if they do, they should win). Having to rush back and forth with your main army to keep things stable is typically one of the first indications that you’re in a losing game.

My only issue with the DLC is that as they add in interesting mechanics for new LL’s and races, the older ones feel more and more left behind. Then CA come along and freshen up an old one, and the cycle begins again. Obviously Chaos, Beastmen and Wood Elves need some love given how much they’ve been left behind. And following that, Norsca needs something extra, and maybe the Dwarves could do with some expanding. And the cycle will continue.

Rangers are great for lawn mowing Skaven hordes. To a certain extent conventional lower tier Elvish armies don’t really have the staying power again very large Skaven armies because high defense but low offense doesn’t kill fast enough to survive. If you’re facing Skaven you can just about spam Rangers and do well against most of their lower tier trash.

Also if you are into graphics and have a decent rig I’d strongly recommend Battle LOD Remover. The game has some very dicey LODs, particularly among the dwarves that really bug me. And this gets rid of them.

Edited to add a screenshot for those curious.

I am seeing some graphics similar to your example, but I am not seeing the “Battle LOD Remover” option in the in game graphics options. Am I blind? Is it somewhere else? My machine is a monster that I pretty much built for this game so it should be able to handle it. I still get grumpy about their bad SSAO effects on some maps so I leave it off, but everything else is on.

There seems to be Skaven corruption all over and the Skaven army raking is going up and up. I don’t see any Skaven though. Is there under cities in my empire or near? How do I find them?

Both Imrik starts are near Skaven. Eshin to the east on ME (also some to the NW, Rictus iirc). Mors to the NE on Vortex.
As far as finding them, it’s a function of detectability and heroes in a province. If you really think there is an undercity you can build the “Skaven detection” building. Or just kill off the faction. On ME building the anti-corruption structure at Tier 3 (the Phoenix chain) is probably a good idea anyway because one of your buildings generates Vampire corruption so it will help deal with that.

Chaplin:

As Imrik do I ignore the Sword of Khaine stuff? It seems REALLY far away from way down south.

I mean, everyone basically ignores it for the most part in my experience. Imrik certainly does, it’s way too far away to worry about. Alarielle will probably grab it and run around fighting DEs on the other side of the planet at some point. Doesn’t really matter to you.

@ShivaX Ok. I had an option to confederate Celdor, but that looked like it was going to split my empire where I would have the south stuff plus a northern traditional HE concerns (Sword of Khaine). I decided to pass so I could focus on the area around Imrik’s start. I see 100% corruption in my provinces, but no Skaven influence although there was and event talking about triangular marks on doors. So maybe I do and maybe I don’t have a Skaven problem.

@MisterMourning Overall, my game is going pretty well. I feel like I am understanding mechanics both of the game and of HE more. Focusing on Spearmen and Archers while using the Lion Guard as a flank hitter on the wings has worked MUCH better. I am making a beeline for Imrik’s Quartermaster talent. I am still not able to field a second army financially. The upkeep of Imrik’s is too high and he is draining my income. The last game I was able to setup trade with the hunter guy to my NE, but not this game. So my money has been hurting bad. I was on the edge of bankruptcy for several turns. I finally just paid off Kemri to start a trade agreement and that helped tremendously. Between him and the sort of do-nothing woodelves to the south, I have trade income that is saving my empire.

I am sitting well for the moment as I control and build up Shifting Sands and Northern River. I am looking at moving against TicTac to claim the rest of the corner and to aid the hunter so that I can maybe gain another trade partner as I expect the Kemri thing to not last. Then maybe move against the Stratos undead next to me that have been irritating now and again. From there…I am not sure. Maybe I will try to beat up the Tomb Kings. I am hoping the quests give me an idea. I am about on turn 20 and it is feeling like a good run and perhaps a breakthrough game.

@Chaplin I haven’t played the Imrik start but I’m guessing that like Teclis it is a bit harder because Eltharion, Tyrion and Alarielle have a ton of trade partners immediately available and that makes those campaigns pretty easy. But the High Elves most basic economic building makes cash and trade goods so they can really get a lot of mileage out of trade income. I’m glad the game is going better!

That LOD mod works fine on the current patch, it doesn’t impact game balance, just makes the game look nicer if that jarring graphics transition bothers you! The other one that is 100% worth the click to download is Better Camera. It just removes all the silly camera restrictions the game imposes and I can’t play without it.

Also if you don’t know, if you press the R key once on the campaign map, it speeds up animation speeds so you don’t need to watch your armies trundle along from point A to point B at a leisurely pace. I only mention it because it’s not a well documented feature. It’s a toggle so pressing it again resets to default speed if watching armies march in slow motion is your thing!

I am guessing so. Trade seems huge and I don’t have many folks to trade with in the Sifting Sands. I have the Wood Elves, but they only have one territory and I am worried they will die. There is the Hunter to the NE, but he is struggling. I aim to take the pressure off of him by going after TicTak, but I think there is a MAJOR Skaven threat on the other side of the Hunter territory. Sadly, Khemri is my safest trading partner. It took a bit to get him to agree to trade, but he has a moderately strong army with territory. My other trade partners are a swift wind from being off the map. I might be able to get Dwarves to trade eventually. Other than that…I have undead, Skaven, and lizards. I am a bit starved for trade options.

Wow that is a tough Caledor ME campaign. Whack a mole for 20 turns. I finally noticed that … uh. of potential spoiler so holler.

Not that it ended up helping that much.

So much in campaign work is synergizing low costs units (and lords make some high level costs go down) and and understanding each racial construction (building wise). Yeah as someone said above: High elves are great at trade but buildings? yikes… without trade they can be tough to generate money.

(Thinkin caledor which is what I’ve been playng in ME – tough campaign no doubt)

Apparently they screwed up the Black Orc Big Boss somehow and it’s either not showing up or not working for most people. Or maybe it’s not compatible with saves, which is kind of silly since they just released a big Orc DLC/update so a lot of people are playing Orcs.